---
title: O.C.G.A. § 20-2-693. Exemptions.
collection: code
id: 20-2-693
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 20-2-693 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/20-2-693
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/20-2-693.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/20-2-693/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t20-ch1-2b-(v17)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=bfd7f2d1_0#page=226
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: EDUCATION / ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION / STUDENTS / SCHOOL ATTENDANCE / Compulsory Attendance
---

# O.C.G.A. § 20-2-693. Exemptions.

(a) Children during the ages of compulsory attendance as provided for in subsection (b) of Code Section 20-2-690.1 who are excused from attendance in public school by the local board of education in accordance with general policies and regulations required by law or promulgated by the State Board of Education shall be exempt from this subpart. The state board, in promulgating its general policies and regulations, shall take into consideration sickness and other emergencies which may arise in any school community.

(b) Children during the ages of compulsory attendance as provided for in subsection (b) of Code Section 20-2-690.1 who are excused from attendance at private schools or home study programs for sickness or emergencies or for other reasons substantially the same as the reasons for excused absences from attendance at public school authorized by law or state board policy pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section shall be exempt from this subpart.

## History

Ga. L. 1945, p. 343, § 3; Ga. L. 1984, p. 1266, § 2; Ga. L. 2006, p. 851, § 3/SB 413; Ga. L. 2025, p. 92, § 7/SB 123, effective July 1, 2025.

## Amendments

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2025, substituted “compulsory attendance as provided for in subsection (b) of Code Section 20-2-690.1” for “mandatory attendance as required in subsection (a) of Code Section 20-2-690.1” in subsections (a) and (b); in subsection (a), in the first sentence, substituted “the local board of education” for “county or independent school system boards” and inserted “required by law or” following “regulations”; and inserted “law or” preceding “state board policy” in subsection (b).